System of regulation for dynamo-electric machines.



(3. A. BODDIE.

SYSTEM or REGULATLON FOR DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.12, l9l6- RENEWED OCT-7.1918 1,284,224. Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FFKQE.

CLARENCE A. IBODIDIE, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SYSTEM OF REGULATION FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

Application filed April 12, 1916, Serial No. 90,672. Renewed October 7, 1918. Serial No. 257,296.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE A. Boonie, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Systems of Regulation for DynamoElectric Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to voltage and current regulators for dynamo-electric machines and particularly to regulators of the kind in which the regulation is eflected by rapidly opening and closing a circuit in shunt to a resistor that is connected in series with the field-magnet winding of the dynamoelectric machine.

When voltage regulators have heretofore been employed in connection with exciters of large capacity and having large field currents, it has been customary to divide the regulating resistor that is connected in serice with the field-magnet winding into a plurality of sections and to employ a corresponding number of relays for respectively controlling shunt circuits to the several sections. However, with the ever-increasing sizes of eXci'ters and other dynamo-electric machines, it has recently been found that, when a certain field current is exceeded no advantage is gained in employing more than two, or possibly three, relays in connection with a single resistor. This condition has served to limit the capacities of regulators, as heretofore constructed and arranged, and the present invention is intended to remove this limitation upon the field of application of regulators.

More specifically, the object of my invention is to provide means whereby an ordinary voltage regulator of the character above specified may be rendered capable of use in connection with an exciter or other dynamo-electric machine having a large exciting current without subjecting the contact members of the relays of the regulator to undue arcing and burning, and to the resultant sticking or roughening and excessive wear.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which diagrammatically illustrates an electrical system comprising distributing circuit con.- ductors 123, a generator 4 having an armature 5 that is connected to the said conductors, and a field-magnet winding 6 that receives exciting current from an eXciter 7 having an armature 8. The exciter 7 is pro vided with afield-magnet winding 9 in circuit with which are two ordinary rheostats or substantially non-inductive resistors 10 and 11 and two inductive resistance devices 12 and 13, the inductances of which are pref erably variable. The inductive and the noninductive resistors are connected in series with each other in pairs, and the pairs are connected in parallel with each other and in series with the eXciter field-magnet winding.

The effectivevalues of the non-inductive resistors 10 and 11 are controlled by means of relays 15 and 16, respectively, that are adapted to rapidly open and close circuits in shunt thereto. It will. of course, be understood that the resistors may be divided into two or more sections and a relay employed in connection with each section. The said relays are provided with energizing windings 17 and 18 the circuits of which are governed by a pair of cooperating stationary and movable contact members 19 and 20 that constitute parts of the main control element of the regulator. The main control element of the regulator comprises also a bell-crank lever 23 that is pivoted at 24 to a stationary support, a lever 25 that is pivotally connected at 26 to the bell-crank lever 23 and. is provided with an upwardly and laterally-extending arm 27 upon which the contact member 20 is mounted. The lever 23 is actuated by means of an electromagnet having an energizing winding 28 that receives energy from the circuit 12-3 through a transformer 29 and the degree of energization of which is controlled by means of a relay 30 that is adapted to open'and close a circuit in shunt to a resistor 31 that is connected in series with the said winding. The relay 30 is provided with an energizing winding 32 that is connected in parallel with the energizing windings 17 and 18 of the relays 16 and 17 and the circuit of which is also controlled by the contact members 19 and 20. The lever 25 is actuated by an electromagnet having a winding that is energizedin proportion to the voltage of the circuit 123 and receives current therefrom through the transformer 29, or that may be energized in proportion to any other desired electrical quantity of the circuit 123.

Inasmuch as the regulator per 86 constitutes no part; of the present invention, its operation will be described only in a very general way. The winding 3% serves to determine the position of the lever in accordance with the voltage of the circuit 123, while the winding 28, by reason of its being alternately fully and partially energized, serves to vibrate the contact member 20 into and out of engagement With the member 19. Engagement and disengagement of the contact members 19 nd 20 cause the contact members of the relays 15, 16 and to vibrate into and out of engagement, the relays 15 and 16 serving to determine the effective values of the resistors 10 and 11, thereby causing the eXciter voltage to vary to correct for the tendency of the generator voltage to vary.

Since the .exciter field current is divided externally of the field winding itself into two parallel divisions, each relay is required to handle only approximately one-half of the total field current and, consequently, the possibility of arcing and burning at the contact members is greatly reduced, and there is less liability of injuring the contact members. The inductive resistances 12 and 18 serve to cause a substantially equal division of the total field current between the two parallel paths, and they also prevent an excessive amount of current from traversing one of'the parallel paths which might otherwise result when the contact members of the two relays 15 and16 d0 not separate simul- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for 1,2sa,22a

taneously. More than two parallel paths including resistance and inductance may, of course, be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a dynamo-electric machine having a field-magnet winding, of two pairs of series-connected resistances and inductances, the said pairs-being connected in parallel With each other and in series with the field-magnet Winding, and a regulator for controlling the effective value of each of said resistances.

2. The combination with a dynamo-electric machine having a field-magnet winding, of a plurality of pairs of series-connected resistances and inductances, the said pairs being connected in parallel with each other and in series with the field-magnet winding, and a regulator for controlling the effective value of each of said resistances,

3. The combination with a dynamo-else tric machine having a field-magnet winding, of a plurality of pairs of series-connected resistances and inductances, the said pairs being connected in parallel with each other and in series with the field-magnet winding, and a regulator for controlling circuits in shunt to the said resistances.

. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 31st day of March, 1916.

CLARENCE- A. BODDIE.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

